Sep. 17, 2013

Written by

Kwame Benton

Special to the News

Before I start this column, I am going to try to be as real and upfront as I can; what you are about to read is pain, struggle, temptation — and wanting better out of life, period.

I’ve been hearing people complain about the Eastern Shore. Even I have complained about it more times that I can think.

But I realize it is time to stop blaming the Eastern Shore and start questioning myself. What am I doing wrong?

It is not because of the Eastern Shore that I have gone nowhere in life. It is because of me.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is not a human. It is a community. It cannot go anywhere.

But you can absolutely get up and leave and shoot for your dreams, especially while you are still young. And then again, it is never too late for anything.

But at the same time, the Eastern Shore does have its flaws.

It needs more for youth and more employment — maybe then there wouldn’t be so many robberies, home invasions, and selling drugs just to feed a family.

Not everyone sells drugs just for the fame, or the nice cars, or to attract women. Some people do it to put food on the table.

For some people, selling drugs is the last option. I said “last option” for a reason, because folks have tried to apply for jobs.

They have walked on construction sites and asked, “Hey, do you guys need help?” But the jobs have not called back, and some construction sites have not needed help.

That’s when the “last option” kicks in — when your child is hungry, needs school clothes, and the light bill is past due. You’re going to have to get it “by the rough.”

But like I said, don’t let the Eastern Shore be the excuse why you are doing these things just to get by.

We have to stop being afraid and stop thinking that the road stops here. No, it goes on.

We have to push ourselves, motivate ourselves, go back to school, earn a trade, come together, stop killing each other, stop being territorial. That doesn’t get you anywhere in life.

I’m reaching out to all races because every race has killed one another, sold drugs and robbed people. I don’t blame the white man anymore; the white man is not responsible for your actions.

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The white man doesn’t force you to go out there and do the things that you do.

But when we get a jail sentence, we want to blame the white man.

I do, however, feel like we blacks need to come together and stop the black-on-black violence that is going on in America. The hate crime is terrible for blacks.

Think about some of the petty reasons we are killing ourselves. We are taking each others’ lives because of money, because one is a “Crip” and one is a “Blood,” because one is from Exmore or Cape Charles, or from Daugherty or Whitesville.

We have to wake up before it is too late. We were once the race that was enslaved. We had to fight for our rights, march the streets and protest just to be an equal people in America.

What we are doing is letting the Rev. Martin Luther King’s speech go to waste.

Our ancestors have been beaten in these same streets on which we kill each other.

Now ask yourself: Am I right or wrong?

Let’s move on and make a change.

Teach the youth, love one another, work together — all races, all religions.

Also: One thing I’ve accepted is that you cannot judge me on my past. I’m not a felon; I am a human who made a mistake.

The writer is incarcerated in the Eastern Shore Regional Jail in Eastville. He is 23 and lives in Cape Charles. In June, he pleaded guilty to breaking into a Cheriton farm equipment business and taking two money boxes containing a total of $782.32 in cash. He is awaiting sentencing.